Friday, July 17, 2015

Pregnant By The Cowboy CEO by Catherine Mann

Jewelry
designer Amie McNaire would do anything for her dying grandmother, including
promise to travel with the outsider chosen to run her family’s business empire.
Simple. All she has to do is keep her hands to herself and find a way to let
the sexy new CEO know she’s pregnant with his child.

Preston
Armstrong has secrets of his own. But spending a week with Amie has this
tight-lipped cowboy longing to open up, even if his past threatens their future
– as a couple, and a family.

Okay,
so I’m a bit on the fence about this one. I mean, I liked it—it was a nice,
quick little read—but it had the potential to be great if a bit more conflict
would have been added and some issues addressed. I guess I just wanted a little bit more from
the characters and the plot.

So,
here’s what’s going on. Amie McNair, jewelry designer, decided to throw caution
to the wind and have a quickie in the coat closet with the sexy guy that caught
her eye at her cousin’s engagement party. Needless to say, she’s shocked when
she discovers that the man she just shagged happens to be the new CEO of
Diamonds in the Rough, the jewelry company that Amie’s family owns. She’s more
shocked to discover that she’s pregnant with his child.

When
Amie learns that her dying grandmother’s test is to see how well Amie and
Preston can get along during the unveiling tour for her new jewelry line, she
decides to use this time to discover who Preston is before telling him about
the baby.

While
there’s no denying that Preston is attracted to Amie, his past is bubbling up
and he’s not sure if he’s willing to take the risk of loving again. And to make
matters more complicated, Amie’s questioning the way he’s running the company.

Amie’s
dealing with a ton of issues. Her grandmother has terminal brain cancer and
doesn’t have long to live. A new CEO has shook things up at the company she’s
poured everything into and to make matters worse she’s pregnant by him. Plus,
she’s also dealing with issues from her childhood and teen years where her
mother entered her into beauty pageants. So she’s afraid that people only see
her beauty instead of her brains.

I
really liked Amie in the previous book. She had this easy breezy bohemian artistic
spirit. Although I was a bit sad that we really didn’t get to see that Amie in
this book. Occasionally parts of her boho spirit shined through but since she
was concealing the secret of her pregnancy and going from event to event
showcasing her new jewelry line, I felt as though she was putting on a front
through most of the book.

Oh,
Preston, you had so much potential to cause some interesting conflict and
tension in the story but you revealed way too much way too early and came out
feeling a bit flat.

Preston
is forty-six, fifteen years older than Amie, and I liked that he was an older
hero. I’ve not read a lot of romances where the hero is in his mid-forties and
it was a refreshing approach. So, he’s loved, married, divorced, struggled with
being a somewhat absent father, struggled with raising an out of control
daughter, then suffered the loss of his daughter and her prematurely born son.

Preston’s
been through the wringer and he’s been content to focus on work until Amie came
into his life. Having lost those he loved, he fears he’s going to suffer again,
so he kind of pulls back, which is understandable.

Amie
and Preston had amazing chemistry. They really lit the pages on fire but they
both had a few issues that needed to be worked out and I felt like her issues
were kind of glossed over rather than being addressed even though they popped
up throughout the book and had even been present in the previous book. His
issue was addresses somewhat better but it was kind of like a ‘bam it’s done’
type of thing.

What
kind of bothered me about this was the lack of conflict. Sometimes I wonder if
authors have lost the meaning of the ‘C’ in Goal Motivation Conflict. While
some books are cute little fluffy reads—and it totally works for those books—,
I was expecting more conflict, especially when the author decided to introduce
Preston’s ex-wife near the end.

Overall,
I liked Pregnant by the Cowboy CEO
but I was hoping for more. As this is
the final book in the Diamonds in the Rough trilogy, I thought that it tied up
this series nicely and allowed readers a glimpse of what’s going on in the
lives of the entire McNair clan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

USA Today bestseller Catherine Mann has books in print in more than 20 countries with Desire, Romantic Suspense, HQN and other Harlequin lines. A six-time RITA finalist, she has won both the RITA and the Bookseller's Best Awards. Catherine resides in Florida with her aviator husband, their four children and a menagerie of pets.

Whether upstairs or downstairs, I sit in the same corner of the
house with double French doors overlooking the water and a barrier island.
Sometimes I meander out onto the porch to write as well (if the mosquitoes
aren’t biting too badly! LOL!) I find the peace of the ocean/sound/gulf very
soothing.

I actually liked the lack of conflict with the ex-wife, I sometimes feel like ther eis conflict just for the sake of conflict and in this book I felt that the pregancy conflict was done well as it was a real issue to focus on and not just in the characters head. I do agree that the issues from their pasts could've used a bit more focus. Overall I did enjoy this one. I am sorry parts fell a bit flat for you, but I am glad to hear you satill enjoyed it :). And I agree with you about the ending, it was all tied up nicely!

Editor's are constantly going on about how conflict needs to be strong in romance novels, so I'm wondering why so many of the romances lately have either lacked conflict or the conflict is so trivial I want to scream and throw my book across the room. To get really get into the romance, I need conflict.

I was a bit surprised about the age gap. Normally the age gap is only 5-8 years in the ones that I've read. I love it when characters are older as well. Sometimes it makes the story feel richer because the characters have lived a little.

I enjoyed it, I was just looking for more conflict. I think given the context of the book, I was expecting some sort of conflict and while there was conflict with the pregnancy, I think I just wanted more. I love it when author's round up a series like this one and let the readers know what's going on with the characters. I wish more authors would end a series like the way this one ended.